The invention herein relates to an improved wheelchair. Wheelchairs are generally formed in various configurations, but basically each has a tubular metal frame with a seat stretched on the frame. The frame supports main drive wheels axially connected to the frame and secondary wheels axially connected to the frame for providing balance and steering. Generally, the drive wheels are positioned adjacent the back of the wheelchair and the secondary wheels are positioned at the front of the wheelchair.
Some wheelchairs are collapsible so that they can stowed when not in use. It is important to have the collapsible wheelchairs as small as possible when in a collapsed state. In many wheelchairs, the collapsed state is often quite large because the wheels and wheel hubs extend outwardly, adding to the width of the wheelchair. If the wheels remain on the wheelchair in its collapsed state, the wheels themselves add to the difficulty in positioning the wheelchair in a compact space, such as the trunk or rear seat portion of a car.
It would be desirable to have a wheelchair on which the large drive wheels could be removable, simply and readily to facilitate collapsing and storing of the wheelchair. It would be further desirable to have a wheelchair which can have its drive wheels removable by the person sitting in the chair. Such a chair could avoid the need of having an attendant accompany the person confined to the wheelchair as he travels.
It would also be highly desirable to have an assembly which could be adapted to or mounted on state of the art wheelchairs and which would enable such wheelchairs to have their drive wheels removable by the person confined to the wheelchair.
It would be desirable to have a wheelchair assembly for which the large drive wheels could be removed while still providing mobility to the wheelchair when such drive wheels are removed. Such a chair could be operated by a wheelchair confined person having upper body movement who could maneuver the wheelchair by grasping nearby objects to pull or push the wheelchair. Such a chair would be capable of operating in areas which would be restrictive to a normal wheelchair having the large drive wheels attached.